1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device, a method of controlling the same, and a camera.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-150686 discloses a photoelectric conversion apparatus including photoelectric conversion means including photoelectric conversion elements and storage means, and a control means for controlling the photoelectric conversion means. The control means controls the charge accumulating operation of the photoelectric conversion elements based on control information stored in the storage means. The control means generates control information based on the monitoring result of the charge accumulation state of each photoelectric conversion element at a predetermined timing, and stores the information in the storage means. A photoelectric conversion means is provided for each distance detection point for the detection of the focus of a camera. The above control makes it possible to perform appropriate focus detection in accordance with the luminance of an object.
Repeating the operation of monitoring photoelectric conversion elements and the operation of storing control information in storage units based on the monitoring results will lead to delays in the timing of starting monitoring the photoelectric conversion elements of the respective photoelectric conversion means. This will lead to insufficient frequency of monitoring the respective photoelectric conversion elements, and hence can cause a deterioration in monitoring accuracy.